Pages

October 30, 2013

Sometime, old books just call to me (and my mom). These are my mom's collection of old hard cover books, some of which she has repurposed. When I was visiting her, I took a couple trips to the thrift store to pick out some for myself! The covers are colorful, the font is charming, and pictures are funny. Plus, old books can have a million uses!

In our case, we have turned some of these old books into covers for other papers...like recipes, birthday cards, Christmas cards...and they are so fun!

Here's how we do it:

Find yourself some hardcover books, in the size and color you like.

Using an exacto knife or box cutter, carefully slice the front and back pages that connect the cover to the block of pages. If you slice close to the spine, it will look like this one below when you are finished:

If you cut up a few, you will have a beautiful set of book page blocks to stack and use on a mantel or bookshelf (see below). I tied this set with baker's twine and set a Halloween decoration on top...
OR you could use the pages to make one of the many book page crafts that have tutorials all over the web. I have made a magnetic board with book pages, my sister has made some awesome centerpieces and book page wreaths. Really, the possibilities are endless!

Back to the covers - take a piece of white duck tape, and cover one side of the inside spine...

And then put another piece, overlapping the first, on the right side of the spine (see below). This will provide extra durability.

Below you can see all the book covers I cut and covered with duck tape...

Next, use a rivet stamper/hole puncher to punch holes for the binder rings. My suggestion, think about what you want to put inside before you place your holes. If you have short things, and your holes are too far apart, it will be hard to store the papers inside using only 1 binder ring. I ended up punching mine each about 3/4" from the edge of the spine, and 1" from the edge/top/bottom of the cover. I also used rivets once the holes were punched - but this is optional. If you don't use a rivet, I would suggest dabbing the edges of the holes with super glue so that they don't fray.

Now, your book covers are ready to store papers - just hole punch the papers where your holes are, and thread the binder rings through. My mom also took things like stickers, tags and vinyl and other rub on letters and marked the spine and covers of her books so she knows what is inside - which I love!

Aren't they darling all lined up on the shelf??

Want more inspiration? Here are some other book cover projects from around the web: